By Judy Carmack Bross
Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
With Chicago native Jacqueline Stewart now Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and host of Turner Classic Movies as honoree and producer, author and entrepreneur Chaz Ebert as her interviewer, everything about FACETS Screen Gems Gala May 1 says hurray for Hollywood. Even the online auction glitters with movie related prizes. What about a meet and greet with Stewart at the Academy Museum as part of a Museum package, or golf at the legendary Hillcrest Country Club where legend has it that Louis B. Meyer once punched out Samuel Goldwyn in the steam room, or showing your own favorite movie at a private party at FACETS with a personalized marquee message?
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
While this year’s guests at the TCM Classic Film Festival are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pulp Fiction this week with its cast, two FACETS winning bidders will be there next year with Spotlight Passes which include a red carpet walk and attendance at its gala. A stay on the Bowood country house estate in Wiltshire, England home for generations of the Lansdowne family with gardens designed by Capability Brown, will make winners feel they have walked onto the set of Barry.Lyndon. Those seeking more traditional auction items such as Cub tickets, restaurant, spa, yoga and flower shop gift certificates, guesthouse getaways, or bottles of wine curated by FACETS board members will find those as well. The online auction closes Wednesday May 1 at 8:45PM.
Producer, author and business leader Chaz Ebert
Stewart’s impact on so many facets of cinema has almost sold out the event at the Arts Club, where Chaz Ebert received in 2022 the FACETS Brilliance Award to be given to Stewart. Scholar, historian and film programmer, Stewart celebrates film, teaches its important history and, like Ebert, shines a light on the work of people of color.
FACETS Executive Director Karen Cardarelli told us:
“FACETS is extraordinarily proud to honor Chicago native Jacqueline Stewart at our annual Screen Gems Benefit. Her current accomplishments as President of the Academy Museum are to be celebrated as well as her long-time work in many areas of cinema. She is a true Chicago gem!”
Randy Adamsick, FACETS Board of Directors Co-Chair; Karen Cardarelli, Executive Director of FACETS; Chaz Ebert; Matthew Steinmetz, FACETS Board of Directors Co-Chair at the 2022 FACETS Screen Gems Gala
FACETS is a leading non-profit arthouse cinema and media education center. Its mission is to foster vital conversations through film by programming 300 plus films a year that are overlooked by mainstream media, educating 5000 youth annually through media literacy and hands-on filmmaking programs, including the Oscar-qualifying Chicago International Film Festival, and preserving a 50,000 film library. It leads the first local film alliance in the country, the Chicago Alliance of Film Festivals.
All proceeds from the event will support FACETS programs including a scholarship fund supporting under-resourced youth with access to FACETS Education Programs. For more than 20 years, Screen Gems has honored leaders of Chicago’s cultural scene. In addition to serving as FACETS principal fundraiser, the event is a forum to create discussion on critical issues.
Christie’s Director Steve Zick, beloved by FACETS supporters, returns to host the evening’s paddle raise. Board member Mike Nehs, COO of Periscope Post and Audio, has produced a video tribute to Stewart to be shown that night and the audience will include representatives from film related fields and film festivals as well as donors, guests and fans of Stewart.
“FACETS is proud to honor Chicago native Jacqueline Stewart at our annual Screen Gems Benefit in 2024. Scholar, film programmer, museum director, television host, historian, Ms. Stewart has achieved groundbreaking work in so many areas of cinema,” according to Randy Adamsick, co-chair of the FACETS Board of Directors.
2022 FACETS Benefit
Jacqueline Stewart is the Director and President, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Stewart is a scholar, educator, programmer, author, film archivist, and host of Silent Sunday Nights on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Stewart previously served as Chief Artistic and Programming Officer at the Academy Museum and is a Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, where she has also served as Director of the Arts + Public Life initiative and the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry. She is chair of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB), where she has led the drafting of reports on diversity, equity, and inclusion on the National Film Registry and in the film archival profession. Stewart was named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018. She has served on the Boards of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA). In 2015, she co-curated the five-disc set Pioneers of African American Cinema for Kino Lorber. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Chicago and her BA in English from Stanford University.
To learn more about the Screen Gems Gala or to bid on the online auction, closing May 1 visit: facets.org/screen-gems
Tickets can be purchased online at www.facets.org/screen-gems, by emailing john@facets.org, or by calling (312) 560-3879.
